Originally Posted by Multibiker
Can you give us some details on the switching regulator you are going to use?
I will try to find the schematic for it. It's very simple, all it has is one MOSFET, an op-amp, a capacitor and an inductor, and a few stray components. I think it costs about $10 in parts and builds in an hour or so. The great thing about it is that it will put out 12V on a 12V input (most regulators drop at least some voltage) and it has very high efficiency. Normally regulators waste the volts that they drop as heat; this one doesn't.